


The Fog In The Morning

by AraNeaLux



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Creepypasta, Dissociative Identity Disorder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:35:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24543181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraNeaLux/pseuds/AraNeaLux
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Intro/Authour's Note

Hi all! I’ve been thinking about this for a bit, and I’ve decided that I’d like to do a rewrite/rework of Liu’s story. Most versions I’ve found are a little lacking in detail, and I especially want to highlight his struggles with Dissociative Identity Disorder in a way that’s more accurate. So far I’m still working out the details, but we’ll see how it shakes out! It’ll probably be really rather different from most versions of the story(ies) out there, so be warned. 

In terms of the work itself, I’m thinking to do a goodol’ fashioned story in writing, but depending on my whims I may use scenes as drawing practice. I may even end up turning it into a comic, who knows? Certainly not me :P

Just as a note, this story is gonna be part awareness piece, and part self-expression piece. I think that DID awareness is really important, especially considering the amount of misinformation out there. As such, this isn’t gonna really be a conventional serial killer creepypasta, most of the horror will come from Liu trying to navigate his admittedly very messed up life. The self-expression is gonna come into play since I’ll be drawing from my own experiences of discovering a diagnosis of DID, as well as spending time in an inpatient facility. 

I’ll be posting the story in short segments here, and I've also got some stuff up on a tumblr at eldritch-obscuritea. I really don’t expect this to gain any traction with the rest of the fandom, but this is more for my own satisfaction than anything else. If you’re down for that, I’m glad to have you along for the ride! Cheerio!


	2. Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content: Mild (nonexplicit) violence, bit of blood

Liu had always loved pineapple cake, as far as he could remember. Which admittedly, wasn’t far at all. Liu had a terrible memory, something which had earned him more than one concerned letter home even at the tender age of seven. He always found himself leaving worksheets, backpacks, and sometimes even his shoes at home. School materials were one thing, but shoes? That was unusual, or crazy, as Jeff liked to put it. 

Jeff called a lot of things crazy. Their mom, their dad, and all of his teachers, for example. He called Liu’s shoes crazy, since Liu forgot to wear them extraordinarily often. Even Jeff himself was “a complete nutjob,” a fact which Jeff proclaimed almost proudly sometimes. 

Liu didn’t really mind Jeff’s calling his shoes crazy. He didn’t really mind Jeff calling himself crazy either, though he could never understand why Jeff would do so. Jeff was cool, and never afraid of anything, while Liu felt afraid almost all the time. He had mentioned this to Jeff a few times, but the response was always the same. Jeff would grin and shake his head, as if he’d never heard anything sillier in his life. 

“What’re you talking about,” he’d say. “We’re bros. We both gotta look out for each other, since Mum and Dad are too crazy to themselves. Or maybe not crazy enough, huh?” And then he’d smile at Liu. “I can protect you, if it really comes down to that. Heck, every kid in town knows not to mess with me!”

-

“Tag, you’re it!” Jeff hollered, running across the parking area which served as St. Mary Mackillop Elementary School’s playground. The third grader whom Jeff was now dashing away from yelled gleefully, and took off after another one of their classmates. 

Liu kept watching from the corner of the parking lot. He didn’t really recognise any of Jeff’s classmates, since they were in the grade below him. Honestly he didn’t know half of his own classmates, even though the grade sizes were small and he’d been at the school since kindergarten. He sighed, and leaned his head back against the warm brick wall. 

A voice spoke next to him. “They look like they’re having a good time.” Liu turned his head sharply, jumping back. A larger boy had addressed him, and was now looking at him curiously. Red hair flopped into his eyes as he tilted his head and said “What, you paranoid or something?” 

“No,” Liu retorted quickly. “I just- you- euh- h-” He took a deep breath in, buried his face in his sleeve, and then let it out slowly, stale air filtering through the soft fabric and into his nose. Then he looked up at the other student. “You shouldn’t startle people if they aren’t paying attention. It’s rude.”

The redheaded boy shrugged. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to.” They stood for a few seconds in awkward silence, and Liu tried to work up the courage to say that he should go, or that he needed to use the bathroom, or really anything which would end this encounter. Thankfully, Jeff chose that moment to saunter over to Liu, his short brown hair sticking up stiffly with sweat. 

“You should come join us!” Then he noticed the boy standing near Liu, and his chipper mood diminished ever so slightly. “You can too, I guess, if you want.” 

The redhead shrugged again. “Maybe.” He gestured at Liu, who was standing rather still. “What’s up with him? He crazy or what?” 

For all Jeff’s talk about Liu’s shoes, he would never call Liu himself crazy, and he would definitely never, ever let some kid insult Liu like that, even if said kid was a solid six inches taller than him. Liu could see the spark of combat flash in Jeff’s eyes, and he quickly said “Yeah Jeff, I’d love to. Let’s go.” He glanced at the other boy, who rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, I guess I’ll play too.” And with that, Jeff grabbed Liu’s wrist and pulled him towards the middle of the parking lot. 

The game of tag was mostly a blur. What wasn’t a blur was the image of Jeff, staggering backwards with eyes wide and his knuckles pink from impact. The redhead was also staggering backwards, hands over his nose. Red dripped between his fingers, splattering on the pavement. A teacher, Mrs. Lorrie, was making her way towards them, and a small ring of other students clustered round to watch what would happen. 

Liu stood, frozen. What was going to happen? Jeff had been in trouble for fighting before, and Liu knew it’d make their mother upset. She was always worrying about whether he and Jeff would be “good people,” and Liu hated seeing disappointment and concern on her face. He crossed his fingers, hoping that the school wouldn’t call home. 

“Boys.” Mrs. Lorrie had arrived, and was eyeing the scene disapprovingly. “Come with me. I’m taking you to the principal’s office.” Jeff and the other boy sullenly followed, and Liu did as well with some hesitation. 

They entered the school building, and the smell of sunlight and the outdoors was replaced by dust from a hallway that was pleading for a thorough clean. Mrs. Lorrie’s shoes clicked on the old tile floor. Halfway down the hallway they stopped at an old, dark wooden door, a door which Liu knew all too well. She opened in, and waved the three boys inside. 

“Ah, Mr. Woods.” A middle aged woman with bright eyes smiled as Liu walked in. She turned to Jeff and the other boy as they filed in after him. “Welcome, welcome. All of you, sit down.” 

They did so, Jeff plopping himself with confidence Liu could tell was feigned. Liu himself didn’t feel confident at all, and neither did the other boy from the looks of it. Once they were all seated, the principal turned to Jeff. 

“Now then, what’s this I hear about you and Randy here getting into a fight? You know that there’s always a better way to handle the situation than that.” she said sternly. 

Jeff quickly began to protest. “Well he pushed me when-”

“I didn’t push you! You ran into me!” 

“Yeah right, I never-”

“Mrs. Henning, this isn’t fair-”

“Boys!” For the first time, all traces of a smile were gone from the principal’s face. Both Jeff and the boy stopped talking, still throwing dirty looks at each other. She steepled her fingers and sighed. “Alright, Jeff, what happened?”

Jeff leaned forwards, hands gripping the edge of the table. “Well, Mrs. Henning, I was playing tag with my classmates when I noticed this kid approaching Liu. Liu looked really scared, so I went to protect him right? And then when I get there, this kid goes and calls Liu crazy! I still wanted to try to be friends, so I invited them both to play tag, but halfway into the game he rams into me, so I hit him back. I swear I didn’t think I hit him that hard, I only wanted to make him back off-” 

“That’s enough. Liu, do you have anything to add?” 

“No ma’m.” Liu said quickly. Then he flushed. “Well, Jeff was trying to protect me, and I was startled when this kid approached, but I don’t think he was trying to scare me.” 

Mrs. Henning turned towards the redheaded boy. “What do you have to say about this?” 

He reached for a tissue and held it up to his nose. “Well I didn’t mean to scare this kid, I didn’t even think that I would. He’s in the grade above us, and he was hanging out by himself so I wanted to try talking to him. And I didn’t run into Jeff, he ran into me! And I tried to say sorry anyways, but he just punched me in the face like he’s crazy or so-” 

Jeff stood up indignantly, but sat down reluctantly upon seeing Mrs. Henning’s disapproving look. “Mr. Jokinen.” The redhead appeared to be busy admiring the woodwork of the desk. “I request that you not call your peers ‘crazy’ again. Is that clear?” The boy nodded, and she sighed. 

“While Jeff does have a history of being disruptive, in light of his good intentions, I’m going to let you two off with a warning.” The smile reassembled itself on her face. “Now Mr. Jokinen, it looks like your nose has stopped bleeding but take a few tissues with you just in case. Mr. Woods, I expect you to be on your best behavior. And Liu.” She turned towards him with bright, light brown eyes and Liu flinched instinctively. She only smiled softly. 

“Take care of yourself, alright?”

“Yes’m” Liu mumbled. 

Mrs. Henning nodded. “You three may leave then.” The three boys quietly filed out of the office. 

“Man, I thought we were fried!” Jeff fistpumped the air. “10/10 sweet talking skills, score for me!” 

Liu looked around. “Where’d that other kid go?”

Jeff paused his victory dance. “Hm?” He glanced up and down the hallways. “I dunno. Might’ve gone to the bathroom to clean up. I would if I were him.” He laughed as they started to walk back down the hall. “Can you imagine what the kids in class are gonna say? He’s probably gonna have at least one black eye for weeks, and from a kid half his size! I almost feel bad for him.”

“Almost,” Liu echoed. 

The two boys reached the door and stepped outside, greeted by a gaggle of students eager to hear the principal’s verdict. Liu was sure Jeff wouldn’t dissapoint.


	3. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content: None that I can think of

Liu stood again in the corner of the school’s parking lot. A gentle breeze blew pink petals into a small cyclone, lifting his light brown hair slightly. He squinted as he scanned the sea of recently liberated elementary school students. Liu wanted to get home, he was all too ready to be done with St. Mackillop’s for good, but he had to wait for Jeff.

Jeff was nowhere to be seen, probably obscured by energetic kids and the legs of their parents, but Liu did spot a familiar mop of red hair. The kid was easily visible due to his height, and apparently had a good vantage point since he saw Liu as well. His brow furrowed when his grey eyes met Liu’s green ones, and after hesitating for a moment he began to approach him, one hand raised in greeting. 

“Hey.” 

Liu nodded in response. 

The boy paused, waiting for Liu to speak. When it became clear that Liu had no intention of doing so, he rocked back on his feet and sighed, pushing his red hair back from his forehead. Then he cleared his throat, and Liu noticed with some surprise that the kid looked almost as awkward as he felt. 

“Look,” said the boy, “I’m sorry about what happened.” He paused again, but Liu didn’t reply. “Really.” He shifted, putting his hands in the pockets of the school uniform and looking at his shoes before he returned his gaze to Liu. “I just wanted to say I didn’t mean bad by it.” 

Liu looked up at the redhead, who was pushing his hair back again. Nervous habit? All in all, he seemed genuine enough so Liu opened his mouth and was about to say that it was alright, that maybe he was crazy, when he heard Jeff shouting from across the parking lot.

“You get away from Liu, you arse!” 

The boy jumped, looking around. He saw Jeff storming towards them and turned quickly, starting to speed walk away. Before he disappeared around the corner of the school building, he stopped, looked back at Liu, and mouthed a “sorry” before he hurried out of sight. 

As Liu watched him leave, Jeff ran up, panting slightly. He scowled at the redhead’s retreating figure, then huffed and turned to Liu. “Kid’s lucky I didn’t get here any faster. No teachers to stop me, and even if they wanted to, it’s the last day of school.” He adjusted the straps on his backpack, and nodded at Liu. “You ready?”

Liu’s eyes flicked back to where the boy had disappeared. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.” He started walking, and Jeff followed suit. 

The sun was bright, but not uncomfortably so as they approached the exit to the parking lot. It glinted off the cheap chainlink fence, and Liu thought to himself that Mackillop’s wasn’t so bad, even if he was glad to be done with the place. 

“Man, you’re lucky,” Jeff sighed. 

Liu nodded. Jeff shrugged, then stretched, his arms reaching high above his head. “Really though,” he continued, “next year shouldn’t be so bad. A buncha teachers aren’t gonna be there. Oh, and that kid, whats-his-face? He’s leaving too.”

Liu looked at him, curious. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Jeff looked up at the sky, shading his eyes. “Told him that if I ever saw him near you again he’d regret it.” His face broke out into a grin. “Man, I kinda wish he didn’t listen. I gave him a black eye for weeks, didya see that? And I was the most popular kid in school for even longer!” 

Liu shook his head slightly, but otherwise stayed quiet. Noticing his subdued behavior, Jeff punched Liu lightly on the arm. “Least you’ll be out of there, huh?”

“Yeah,” said Liu. He smiled slightly. 

The two boys got home without much incident, and Liu pushed open the door. 

“Hellooo!” Jeff hollered. “Guess who’s gonna be here all day every day for the next three months!” 

A somewhat skinny man rolled into the hallway on an old office chair, smiling at the two boys. “Well it certainly can’t be my two boys, Neff and Stu!”

Liu rolled his eyes, grinning. “C’mon Dad, you know that’s not what our names are.” 

The man tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Jen and Mew?”

“Oh geez, now you’re just making stuff up!”

“Yeah,” added Jeff. “After all, our names are clearly Leff and Jiu.”

Liu mimed gagging, saying “Euch, I know that a bunch of girls in your class were mashing your name up with theirs and I want no part in it. That’s gross.” 

Jeff snorted. “You’re just jealous.” He turned towards Mr. Woods, nodding in the direction of the kitchen. “We’re gonna fix us something to eat, wanna join?”

He shook his head, grey-streaked hair flopping slightly. “Would if I could Jeff, but I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on. You two don’t burn the house down, alright?” 

“We’ll do our best! Good luck with your work.” Mr. Woods gave Liu an appreciative, tired smile, and rolled back into his office. The off-white door creaked loudly as it shut behind him, leaving the two boys in the hallway. 

Jeff rolled his eyes. “Man, Dad’s crazy. It’s our last day of school for Chrissake! I mean, of course Mom’s not here, but still…” He sighed, and Liu could see the concealed disappointment on his face.

“Hey, it’s fine,” said Liu cheerily, gently leading his brother away from the office door and hopefully further out of earshot of their father. He winked conspiratorially at Jeff. “Listen, if he doesn’t have dinner with us then he can’t say that we have too much ice cream, now can he?” 

“Of course it’s fine! Nothin’s making it otherwise,” Jeff scoffed, but Liu observed with some comfort that Jeff half-walked, half-skipped into the kitchen.


	4. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content: Some parent-kid tension, some insecurity, and a brief but moderately detailed mention of night terrors

“What do you mean we’ve gotta move?!” Jeff shouted. He was pacing quickly, only taking five or six steps before he had to turn around in the cramped living room. Liu watched, perched on a salmon-pink loveseat. 

Mr. Woods sighed. “I know this is difficult, but it’s for the better.” Jeff scoffed. “Listen Jeff,” said their father, “I’ll have a much better position there, which means I won’t have to work as much. We’ll have a better house too.” He smiled wryly. “At the very least, you’ll be able to angrily pace much more effectively.” 

“You’re crazy if you think I want your stupid house,” muttered Jeff, but he did stop pacing. He grumpily slouched against the loveseat, looking at Liu. “C’mon bro, don’t you think this whole moving thing is bonkers?”

Liu shook his head. He didn’t really have any attachment to the fairly small, one-story building. Something in him was almost glad that they would be leaving. 

Jeff turned back to Mr. Woods. “Alright, what does Mom think? Not that we see her enough to remember she exists, that crazy-”

“Don’t speak about your mother like that.” Mr. Woods sighed again, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “She agrees that moving is a good idea.” 

Jeff threw his hands into the air, then stormed out of the room. Mr. Woods looked at Liu apologetically, but Liu just shrugged, stood up, and trotted after Jeff. 

Liu entered their room, stepping casually around the piles of dirty laundry scattered on the floor. Jeff had clambered up to his bunk bed, and the old mattress protested loudly as he fell back against it, scowling. 

“This is totally balls.” Jeff huffed, turning away from Liu. After a moment, he turned back towards him, eyebrows furrowed. “Say, why don’t you think this is balls?” 

Liu shrugged. “I mean, I don’t have any friends here.” Jeff scoffed in disbelief, but Liu continued. “No really, not anyone I’d really miss. At least it’d be a new start, yknow?”

“Yeah, but I really liked my start here,” Jeff muttered. 

“Well, yeah.” Liu leaned cautiously against the bunk bed frame, glancing at Jeff. “But you’re so popular. I’m sure you’ll be able to make lots of friends in no time.” 

“I’m not.” 

This response surprised Liu a little, but not much. Sometimes he forgot that Jeff was his younger brother, and despite all the young boy’s bluster he did actually look up to his older sibling. Liu shivered slightly. 

“Well it’s not like we have a choice really,” said Liu hesitantly. “I mean, what would we even do?”

Jeff sighed. “I guess.” He turned back over, and Liu stood on his bunk so his eyes were barely able to see over Jeff’s mattress. The corner of a sketchbook peered back at him from over Jeff’s shoulder. 

Liu knew that Jeff had a sketchbook, though granted he had never been allowed to look inside it. Granted, that was technically only when Jeff was around. Otherwise, Liu knew that he always stuffed it in the gap between his bunk and the wall, trusting the bedframe to keep it from falling down to Liu’s bed. 

It usually did this quite well, and Liu had always respected Jeff’s privacy, but one day he had gone into the room and the sketchbook was lying open on his bed. On display was a dark, hastily hashed-in background with a grey, crudely sketched hand, positioned like it was shoving something away and out of the page. Where it met the sketchbook there was a line of paper, as if a page had been torn out. 

Liu had gently closed it, and quietly climbed up to Jeff’s bed, leaving it in its usual snugly hidden spot. Jeff never said anything to him about it, so Liu had figured that Jeff hadn’t noticed anything. 

“Quit staring at me.” Jeff had turned his head and caught Liu’s gaze. “I’m kinda working on something here.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” replied Liu, but he still hopped nimbly away from the bunk, landing squarely on one of the few clean patches of floor and settling into a crouch. As he stood up, stretching, he said, “Well, I’m probably gonna call it a night.”

Jeff scoffed. “Sure.”

Liu raised an eyebrow at this. “Well, since it’s nine-thirty?”

“Since when do you go to bed at nine thirty?”

“Uh…” Liu’s eyebrows furrowed. “Since pretty much always?”

Jeff snorted at that. “Yeah right, I’ve never seen you asleep before I am, and I’m usually awake till midnight.”

Liu shrugged. “Maybe you don’t pay attention to what goes on in the deep, hellish depths of The Lower Bunk.” He smiled slightly, and Jeff rolled his eyes. 

“Goodnight Jeff.”

“Yeah sure.”

Liu crawled onto his mattress, muscle memory allowing his fluffy brown hair to barely brush the bottom of Jeff’s bunk. It was a warm night, the first really humid night when spring turns into summer, so he just pulled the thin bedsheet over himself to keep out any drafts. 

He didn’t ask Jeff to turn out the lights, Liu never did. If Liu was honest with himself, he preferred the light to be on. He found it reassuring, and considering that he apparently still had night terrors it wasn’t the worst idea. At the least it meant that if one of their parents decided to try to reassure their shaking, wide-eyed, sometimes urine-soaked son, they wouldn’t have to try to navigate the room in the dark. He doubted they did anymore. After all, they were both busy people and since Liu never actually remembered the nightmares, he didn’t mind it much either way.

Of course, he’d never admit that he really rathered the light stay on all night, especially never to Jeff. What kind of fourteen-year old was still afraid of the dark? A silly one, that’s what. 

The old mattress creaked as Liu shifted, sighed, and closed his eyes.


End file.
